Media top headlines September 22
In media news today, reporters slam the White House for shouting down questions from the press pool, MSNBC's Joy Reid calls the focus on the Gabby Petito case 'missing White woman syndrome,' and Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar argues with CNN anchor over border patrol agents on horseback
The old saying goes there is no such thing as bad publicity, but that truism doesn’t apply to MSNBC host Joy Reid, who has made media news on a regular basis with bizarre remarks and insensitive rhetoric without accompanying ratings success.
"The ReidOut" is having its worst quarter ever, even as its far-left host has generated headlines for attacking conservatives, flip-flopping on the COVID vaccine, and using the chaotic troop withdrawal from Afghanistan to take a shot at the United States, while defending President Joe Biden at every turn.
"Joy Reid is the perfect encapsulation of how partisanship can harden into pure hatred in one's heart for each and every human being who doesn't think and vote the same way. It's almost demonic in the way she speaks about the tens of millions of Americans who lean right and engages in both a cartoonist and dangerous level of incitement," NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News Digital.
Joy Reid has generated headlines with hateful rhetoric and bizarre remarks.
MSNBC'S JOY REID DISMISSES FOCUS ON GABBY PETITO CASE AS 'MISSING WHITE WOMAN SYNDROME'
"As someone who covers her show, it's an exercise in how not to treat people," Houck added. "Not only do advertisers and MSNBC executives continue to support her in droves, Comcast has made clear that they don't have a problem with any of this rhetoric."
While Reid has proven she can say whatever is on her mind without landing in hot water with MSNBC, her over-the-top style has not attracted viewers.
"The ReidOut" is on pace for its least-watched quarter ever among both total viewers and the key demographic of adults age 25-54. In September, "The ReidOut" is down a staggering 56% among total viewers since January and shed 71% of its demo viewers over the same time period.
The far-left program is currently in the middle of its lowest-rated month of the year among the demo, averaging only 137,000 nightly viewers among the category coveted by advertisers. Reid’s only month with a smaller audience among total viewers than her dismal September turnout was last month, when she averaged only 1.1 million viewers in August.
In recent days, Reid has dismissed coverage of Gabby Petito as "missing White woman syndrome," pushed a misleading claim that Border Patrol agents used whips to curtail Haitian migrants, admitted she was hesitant to take the COVID vaccine when former President Trump was in office but changed her position under President Biden, and even got caught up in a public spat with Nicki Minaj after the rapper expressed hesitancy over the vaccine herself.
Reid also became the focus of intense criticism last week over a peculiar rant that Republicans loved coronavirus, wanted it pumping through their veins, and that they were a "creepy little COVID-loving death cult."
Reid, who has become known for pushing conspiracy theories and making racially disparaging remarks, was lampooned this week for declaring Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., could lose their seats in the 2022 midterm elections, since Manchin and Sinema are Senators who aren't up for re-election until 2024.
Some joked that Reid must have been hacked, a callback to her infamous claim that homophobic slurs on her pre-fame blog were planted by hackers. The MSNBC host eventually admitted that it was unlikely hackers were responsible, but claimed she didn’t remember writing the hateful comments despite apologizing anyway.
Despite the embarrassing hacking ordeal, MSNBC promoted Reid from a weekend timeslot to the coveted 7 p.m. ET window that was vacated when Chris Matthews abruptly left the network in 2020.
Houck feels Reid’s recent comments are simply the latest examples of MSNBC and Comcast turning a blind eye to her issues.
"Not knowing how many years a Senator serves? Fine by them! Saying over 70 million people love COVID and want to drink it like Kool-Aid so they can kill as many people as possible? They see no problem with that statement," Houck said. "Saying Joe Manchin loves the filibuster and thus Jim Crow more than America? Good with them. It's a dangerous road Comcast is going down, but again, they don't care."
While Houck feels she is dangerous, columnist Jason Whitlock thinks Reid is simply a sellout who will parrot anything "the left tells her to be down with" as long as her paychecks continue to clear and she is accepted by liberal influencers.
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"She done sold out for money and now she’s down with any and everything the left tells her to be down with … People need to do what makes sense for them. We need to get up out of each other’s business," Whitlock recently said on his podcast. "Joy Reid needs to shut up because she ain’t saying what she really believes. We seen the blog posts and all the stuff from her past, what she really believes."
MSNBC didn't respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
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